My pig broke his nail, vet time?!

[ositoto]

The other night my little lad Osito managed to catch a nail on his cage when he was reaching up to get some good ol' attention (I inadvertently put off trimming his nails because he's always ready to take a chunk out of my hand if I try him), but at that point there was only a little bit of blood and a visible crack, so I rubbed it with salt water after cleaning his cage right then and there and let him go about his business. It had been fine since then, not hanging off or bothering him so I wrote that incident down as a no vet situation.

Now, I went ahead and trimmed his nails today so this doesn't happen anytime soon, and when I went to try and trim the injured nail it popped right off and blood just came out of nowhere! I thought something like this might happen so luckily I had a styptic(sp?) pencil on hand to stop the bleeding ASAP! I'm already planning some more salt water rubs for him to make sure it stays clean, but should this still warrant a vet visit? I know all they're going to do is maybe cauterize it, and being a student if I take him to the vet my funds are gonna be tight

He was trying to stop me from getting at his nail too, I feel so bad now Luckily it doesn't seem to be visibly hurting, he's just chillin and being his usual self
Any advice would be much appreciated! this is my first time posting here since Ive been so anxious about this

 

[DM030819]

@ositoto If it's stopped bleeding then I wouldn't bother with the vet. One of my boys had to have a toe nail overclipped a while ago by the vet and it bled a lot. But he was fine as soon as it stopped.

 

[Claire W]

I agree. My Edward has had two broken nails now. Each time it bled a lot but soon stopped. I just watched out for infection and swelling and bathed the toe with salty water. Edward was never bothered by it. Just be aware that it can take up to 6 months for the nail to grow back and it may grow back deformed. One of Edwards nails has grown big and thick for example

 

[piggieminder]

Caspy pulled his nail out 2 months ago, the toe was very sore and swollen for a couple of days. He had Metacam which helps with the pain and swelling. If your piggy is not showing signs of pain or infection I wouldn't rush to the vet but keep a very careful eye on it. Caspy's nail has just started to show through again now.

 

[Merab]

Jemimah pulled a nail out when she was playing and it bled a lot.
I bathed it and kept an eye on it.
Apart from a rug with tiny bloody paw prints and a ruined tee shirt there was no harm done.

 

[Reenie]

I would treat the same as if I'd pulled off a nail of my own - keep an eye out for infection, keep it clean, but no medical help unless there was a problem.